Murders on campus

Murders on campus

Authority can't be mute spectator anymore

SOON after the targeted killing of a student in Bangladesh Agricultural University another student was shot dead inside a dormitory at Rajshahi University. In both cases, the murdered students were members of the ruling party's student body. In the first case, involvement of BCL elements was confirmed through the reported telephone conversation of the severely injured victim with his brother. In the second case, though it is not yet confirmed who the killers were, several witnesses had seen two fellow BCL activists on the spot with one of them holding a pistol. Both of these incidents prove that safety and security of students in public universities are at stake and the campus environment is left vitiated.
The victim Rustam Ali Akand was a fourth year student at the department of political science in Rajshahi University. He was vying for president's post of BCL hall unit in the upcoming council. It is reported that inner party rivalry had brewed over his candidature. In the Agricultural University case, murdered Saad was a vice president candidate in the faculty election, which had triggered an internal feud.
Against this background, it is essential to establish the motive behind the murders and identify the killers. The investigation should be done rising above any political and organisational considerations. The university administration and law enforcing agencies should not be lenient and predisposed in conducting these investigations as we had seen happened in cases of JU student Zubair and DU student Abu Bakar. The burden of the corpses of students of the highest educational institutions is too much to bear for the relatives of the victims and people at large.